Last week, a group of Open Source pioneers joined the battle over the future of software patents in the European Union. Over the next several weeks, the EU could fall into the same legal trap that ensnared the U.S. software industry--or it could take the first step towards dumping the concept of software patents once and for all.

Process management is a practice that can be supported by tools not traditionally thought of as "BPM" software, and businesses owe it to themselves to investigate all their options before deciding on a BPM strategy.

More people than ever chose to let their fingers do their holiday shopping. Consumers spent $250 million online on Friday, a 41% increase over the $174 million they spent online on the same day a year ago.

Apple's iPod Photo is a whole new creature, with an ability to view brilliant color photos. The pictures are great, but with its increased storage, longer battery-life and sharp, 65,000-color display, it's a much better music player as well.

How many returns are too many? Shoppers may soon find out as "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, kicks off the 2004 holiday shopping season. A software application from The Return Exchange Inc. called Verify-1 that monitors and records the frequency of returns by consumers is starting to catch on.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.